Faith is the Victory

 

…for everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith. 1 John 5:4

There is no overcoming victory for the believer without faith on display. We must believe and act in faith to triumph in any endeavor. Faith comes by hearing God’s word. And our faith must be expressed through our words and through our actions. If we believe in our hearts concerning a promise from God’s word, and if we declare with our mouths that that word is true, we will have what we say.

Romans 10:9-10 says, “If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved.

Standing on a promise includes resisting contrary thoughts that our enemy tries to give us when we are acting in faith. David killed Goliath, because he had faith in God. His eyes saw a looming giant but his heart saw his infinitely bigger God. He resisted those thoughts that said he would lose. David confessed his faith by telling the giant that his God would defeat him. Then David ran to the warrior and killed him with a sling and a stone.

Faith is believed in the heart and spoken from the mouth. Faith also must be combined with corresponding actions. This is the only way to achieve and maintain Biblical victory. Thanks be to God who always causes us to triumph in Christ (2 Corinthians 2:14).

 

Setting the Captives Free

Here is a post that I wrote in inspireafire.com. I hope you like it, and I hope it ministers to you.

https://inspireafire.com/setting-the-captives-free/

 

Great Father

Here is a piece that was published recently in inspireafire.com.  It is about having God as our Father. Just click below.

https://inspireafire.com/the-great-father/

You Chose Me

You chose me before I ever was

You called me because of Your great love

More than a conqueror you have made me be

Victory over trouble will I see

 

I trust in the Lord, trust His grace

I seek His heart, find his face

He’s made me strong

I’ll praise Him all day long

 

I’ve been made righteous

Through Christ’s own blood

He not only likes me

He holds me in His love

 

Greater is He who is in us

Than he that’s in the world

Greater is One within

Than that author of lies and sin

 

Jesus has made us overcomers

Winners in the fight

The battle is the Lord’s

He’s a beacon in the night

 

Thank you Lord for all You are and for all You do

Thank you Jesus. The Way, the Life, the Truth

I surrender all to Your plan

You are the mighty one the great I am

 

You chose me before I ever was

You called me because of Your great love

 

 

 

The Man Finds Freedom

His heart a rock blocking the flow of God’s love.

Unable to give. Unable to receive.

The offense brought pain. The pain cut the stream.

The man had the opportunity to forgive but he felt the hurt ran too deep.

Jesus offered forgiveness and healing.

He brushed it aside. But if we do not forgive the offender,

We cannot be forgiven.

 

Like a dagger to his own heart his choice not to forgive.

Then the revelation came, “If I forgive the offender, I set us both free.”

Love trickled down into the crevice of the deep wound.

Soon healing reached the deepest parts. Soon joy was reborn.

The man decided to offer the offender a gift wrapped in grace.

The gift of mercy since he had received his pardon from the Master.

Now the Son of Man smiles upon the one who found freedom.

 

Blessed to be a Blessing

How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can anyone preach unless they are sent? As it is written: “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!” Romans 10:14-15.

The Lord has commissioned believers to spread the good news of the gospel. Our lives and our speech can combine to draw others to the Master. God has sent us to those in our sphere of influence. We are salt and light. God the Father has sent us to reach the lost. Say yes to His call. You are an ambassador for Christ. You can do all things through Christ who strengthens you. You are blessed to be a blessing,

The Baptism in the Holy Spirit

There is a debate that echoes on in Christian circles. It divides denominations and can split churches. It has to do with a subject called the baptism in the Holy Spirit. Some believe that the Holy Spirit is given by God when a person becomes born again. They do not believe there is a need for a second blessing. The other group contests that the Holy Spirit dwells inside one who’s born again but the baptism in the Spirit is needed for God to use them powerfully as His witnesses and to operate in the gifts of the Holy Spirit.

It is my conviction that the baptism in the Holy Spirit is a separate endowment of God’s power. It is accompanied with the gifts of the Spirit which includes speaking in other tongues. In Acts 8:15-18 we learn of a group of believers who have become Christians but who do not have the Holy Spirit.

“When they arrived, they prayed for the new believers there that they might receive the Holy Spirit, because the Holy Spirit had not yet come on any of them; they had simply been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. Then Peter and John placed their hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit.  When Simon saw that the Spirit was given at the laying on of the apostles’ hands, he offered them money and said, ‘Give me also this ability so that everyone on whom I lay my hands may receive the Holy Spirit.’”

Here it says that these people were new believers. So they received Christ and the Holy Spirit lived inside of them. But the Holy Spirit had not rested upon them. But after Peter and John laid their hands on the people it says they received the Holy Spirit. It was evident that they received the Holy Spirit. In numerous places in the book of Acts believers began to speak in tongues when they received the Holy Spirit. Here is the example of the first time believers received the baptism in the Holy Spirit…

All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them. Acts 2:4

Later in Acts 10:44-46 a group of Gentiles received the Holy Spirit…

“While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit came on all who heard the message. The circumcised believers who had come with Peter were astonished that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out even on Gentiles.  For they heard them speaking in tongues and praising God.

The evidence that they received the Holy Spirit’s baptism was that they spoke in tongues. Paul said that he spoke in tongues more than all of his fellow believers (1 Corinthians 14:18). The Bible also speaks of the benefit of tongues. It says that praying in tongues edifies us or builds us up spiritually (1 Corinthians 14:4). I believe it also sensitizes us to the Holy Spirit’s promptings.

Before Jesus ascended into heaven which was sometime after his resurrection, Jesus said in Luke 24:49,” And behold, I am sending the promise of My Father upon you. But remain in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.”

And in Acts 1:8 Jesus said, ^“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

This last verse highlights the main reason why Jesus wanted us to receive the baptism in the Holy Spirits. It is through this empowering that we are able to become effective witnesses for the Lord.

The disciples waited in the upper room and then received the Holy Spirit. His dramatic entry in their lives included the sound of a mighty wind inside the room where they were. Fire appeared on their heads and they all spoke in tongues.

If you would like to receive this baptism of the Holy Spirit you must first be born again and then you just need to ask for the Holy Spirit’s infilling and believe.

Luke 11:13 says,” If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”

Come and pray this prayer to receive Jesus as your Lord and Savior, if you haven’t already, and to receive the power of the Holy Spirit.

Dear Lord of Heaven and Earth,

I surrender all to you. I ask you to save me for I am a sinner and I am lost without you in my life. Be my Lord and Savior. Jesus come and fill me with your Holy Spirit. Baptize me in your power and give me the gift of tongues so that I can build myself up spiritually. I want to be an effective witness for you. In Jesus name I pray, Amen.

After you have prayed this prayer, wait on the Lord. He will give you words to say. It may just be simple syllables. Speak them out. The Lord will not make you speak. You must yield to him. Practice your new prayer language daily and allow the Lord to use to tell others about him. Congratulations you have made an important step in your walk with the Lord.